Videogames: Kim Kardashian

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1) The objective of the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game is to create your own star, with the ability to customise your look and outfit with a vast array of style options. You can star in a huge interactive adventure as you encounter other celebs, dedicated fans, persistent paparazzi and even hang out with Kim herself. Climb up the social ladder to become an A-list movie actor, cover model, fashion designer and more. Take over L.A. in a virtual world complete with exclusive clubs, upscale boutiques, and luxury homes; you can also travel to New York City and Miami.

2) An A-List celebrity is a movie star who is very well known and who is usually considered extremely bankable by the movie industry, whose name is frequently recognised and associated with success and fame. This is important to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood as the primary aim of the game is to achieve that status.

3) The narrative of Kim Kardashian Hollywood involved working your way up the celebrity scale from Z-List to A-List. As you play you will interact with a range of real and fictional characters in the United States and around many of the world’s most glamourous and famous locations. As you progress, there are collectibles and missions that will allow you to develop the status of your customisable character. Your ranking is determined by your position on the Top Stars list in Hollywood. They are sorted into six different lists, with 'Unlisted' being the lowest rank to the 'A-list' being the highest rank. You rise up in ranks by gaining fans. The goal of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is to gain as many fans as possible by doing well on projects, getting attention from StarNews, and dating to get to the A-list.

4) Characters are NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) that appear in goals, locations and the storyline as you progress in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. These exclude NPCs you meet in the game that you can date or network with. These types of contacts are randomly generated according to each individual game. The characters in Kim Kardashian Hollywood are a mixture of real VIP characters and fictional characters.

5) In your pursuit of becoming an A-List celebrity, some of the fictional characters work with you and some actively try to ruin your journey by beating you to A-List. Special Events are temporary goal arcs that are available only during Weekend Events in the game. By completing them, players can not only earn Cash Cash, XP XP, Energy Energy and Star Stars, but also Special Event stars. These regularly happen and keep the game fresh.  It also means established players keep coming back to the game to see what the latest updated events are. By collecting Special Event stars, players can unlock exclusive rewards and Kustomize items. The Kustomize screen, also known as your wardrobe, is the screen where you can customize your character to your liking. You can purchase tops, dresses, pants, skirts, shoes, hairstyles, facial features, nail colours and fashion accessories like bags, jewellery, and tattoos.

Representations:

1) Representations of women in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood are perceived as quite controversial - it has been criticised for offering a representation of women focusing on appearance, modelling and dating as a way to be successful, rather than raw talent.

2) The game has been praised for its representation of race, ethnicity and sexuality – with the game offering a diverse range of characters many of whom are a part of the BAME community.

3) Representations are reinforced in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood through the idealistic, excessive manner in which women are conveyed, for example having prominent body figures and being interested in clothes and make-up. Another way is through the flirtatious and provocative depiction of women, as one of the main motives of the game is to develop intimate relationships with A-List celebrities. A way in which representations are subverted is through the fact that members of the BAME community prove to be famous and successful, which serves as a stark dichotomy to the formerly white Caucasian-dominated industry.

4) In Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, celebrity is represented as something to aspire to even without an obvious talent or ability.

5) The representation of celebrity may be criticised as it suggests that obtaining that lordly status requires minimal effort or hard work - rather it is entirely built upon the manner in which you present yourself outwardly rather than your actions.

Audience:

1) The intended audience for the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game may be pre-existing fans of Kim Kardashian and her work, which serves as brand loyalty as this may cause people to be more interested in the game. Also, the game may appeal to a female audience more due to the fashion, make-up and lifestyle aspects that the game has to offer.

2) Audience pleasures offered by the game includes personal relationships, as some may feel as though they have developed a friendly bond with Kim Kardashian. Also, it may provide diversion/entertainment through the glamourous Hollywood celebrity lifestyle, which may be fascinating to the audience and unlike anything within their usual daily lives.

3) The game could perhaps be addicting towards an audience due to the glamourous, wealthy lifestyle that serves as one of the most notable aspects of the narrative. As well as this, audiences could become rapidly fascinated with choosing new outfits or styles and meeting new characters, as well as playing with others if they wish.

4) James Liu believes that star power plays a huge part in the overall success of the game. This is because Kim is a major brand-name and she has a curated and sustained following which allows this game to have a significant advantage in visibility.

5) James Liu believes that people continually come back to the game due it being a

completely self-paced game. Also, it works hard to satisfy the need for social recognition and fantasy adventure in being a celebrity. It has good retention because it doesn't break emergence.

Industry:

1) Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is free to download, therefore making it accessible for everyone.

2) It makes huge amounts of money from in-app purchases and subscriptions. Players need to buy energy to complete tasks (or wait 30 minutes for energy to replenish). They can also buy subscriptions.

3) Subscriptions that are able to be purchased in-game include:

Gold: 49.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)

Silver: 19.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)

Bronze: 4.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)

4) Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was developed by Glu Mobile, a highly successful mobile game developer and publisher. It was released in June 2014 and was marketed heavily using the Kim Kardashian brand. With social media promotion, the game quickly shot to the top of download lists and iTunes app store charts.

5) The game design means that there is a large amount of media convergence. For example, social media channels are referenced in the game. The player is encouraged to engage online and gain bonus items for sharing on Facebook etc. The game appears on Kim’s actual social media platforms. The game features in Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes. The TV Show is also referenced in the game.